A scary as hell WiFi name just caused absolute chaos on a Qantas flights

There’s a time and a place for hilarious WiFi signal names, however a trans-continental flight on a major Australian airline is not one of them.

Because it’s 2016, and we are a generation of cyber-vandals, WiFi names are increasingly becoming a platform for ‘creative self-expression’.

Aristotle and the ancient Greeks had their amphitheatres, Shakespeare had the Globe and we have the 25 characters or so for our Internet login.

They can be puns:‘Pretty Fly For A WiFi’, ‘Silence of the LAN’, ‘Wi Believe I Can Fi’ – all classics.

Or they can be used for passive aggressive digs at neighbours – for instance, someone in my apartment block has ‘Apt 504 we can hear you having sex’.

But what they most certainly should not be used for is grounding flights and ruining everyone’s day.

Some jerkoff changed their WiFi hotspot name on Qantas flight from Melbourne to Perth that created a major security scare for everyone on the plane.

After a passenger boarded flight GF481 on the weekend, she noticed a hotspot on her phone’s WiFi menu titled ‘Mobile Detonation Device’.

She showed it to the crew, who then told the captain and security.

Panic gripped the 40 passengers on board, as they were told the flight was delayed because “a device” was believed to be onboard that needed to be found.

“He said there was a device on the plane that had a name on it that he found threatening and that we were not leaving until that device was brought to him,” John Vidler, a passenger, told The West Australian.

So naturally – because, you know, they didn’t want to be blown up – a bunch of passengers demanded to be let off the flight, causing further delays as their luggage had to be unloaded.

Two long hours later, the plane took off and got to Perth without any further drama.

Kate

John Thimakis

Monday 23 May 2016

Total over reaction if you ask me. People being guided by their emotions. Think about it. In what universe would a potential bomber name his bomb ‘Mobile Detonation Device’. Terrorists may be a lot of things but they aren’t stupid. All the captain had to do was tell every one turn off their hotspots (and not even give a reason).